Profile
I am a PhD Candidate at New York University and a member of the part-time faculty at The New School. My research situates twentieth-century lesbian history in transnational and intersectional contexts, asking how experiments in queer and feminist world-making have driven movements for social change. My dissertation, “Becoming Lesbian: Sex, Politics, and Culture in Transnational Circulation, 1970-1998,” examines the proliferation of transnational lesbian networks in late twentieth-century Europe and the United States. I aks how lesbian activists, artists, and thinkers translated local bonds of solidarity and friendship into transnational activist networks, and how lesbian change-makers confronted cultural, racial, and ethnic differences to craft a definition of “lesbian” that transcended national borders. My article “‘Our Point of Departure is Feminist’: Féminin Masculin Avenir and the Intersectional Origins of Women’s Liberation in France, 1967-1970,” was published in Gender & History in 2021.
I also write regularly for audiences outside of academe. I have been a contributing writer for Jacobin, The Chronicle Review, Public Seminar, Eurozine, Sinister Wisdom, and the Journal of the History of Ideas Blog. My essays explore current events and contemporary debates related to feminism, queerness, religious freedom, and academia.
Degrees Held
Ph.D., History and French Studies, New York University (In-Progress)
M.Phil, History, New York University
M.A., French Studies, New York University
B.A., English and French, Mount Holyoke College
Professional Affiliation
Committee on LGBT History
Coordinating Council for Women in History
American Historical Association
Recent Publications
Articles (Peer Review)
"'Our Point of Departure is Feminist': Féminin Masculin Avenir and the Intersectional Origins of Women's Liberation in France, 1967-1970," Gender & History, Vol. 34 No. 1, March 2022, pp. 263-281, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12529
Articles (Editorial Review)
"I Love Higher Education. It Isn't Loving Me Back," Jacobin, December 2023, https://jacobin.com/2022/12/higher-education-precarity-austerity-part-time-adjunct-university
"It's Time for Democrats to Claim the Moral High Ground," Public Seminar, June 28, 2022. https://publicseminar.org/essays/the-moral-high-ground/
"The Problem is not Harvard, The Problem is Graduate School," Public Seminar, February 15, 2022. https://publicseminar.org/essays/the-problem-is-not-harvard-the-problem-is-graduate-school/
"Did Judith Butler Really Say TERFs Are Fascists?," Public Seminar, October 19, 2021.https://publicseminar.org/essays/did-judith-butler-really-say-terfs-are-fascists/
“Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron,” Eurozine, Public Seminar, July 15, 2021. https://www.eurozine.com/why-a-far-right-activist-slapped-president-macron/
“More Misandry, Please!” Public Seminar, April 28, 2021. https://publicseminar.org/essays/more-misandry-please/
“France’s Tale of Two Secularisms,” Public Seminar, November 18, 2020. https://publicseminar.org/essays/frances-tale-of-two-secularisms/
“Brave New Classroom: Lessons from the First Six Weeks,” Public Seminar, May 13, 2020. https://publicseminar.org/essays/brave-new-classroom/
“How The New York Times Turned me into a Bernie Supporter,” Public Seminar, February 7, 2020. https://publicseminar.org/2020/02/how-the-new-york-times-turned-me-into-a-bernie-supporter/
“The Moral Clarity of Children: What Climate Strikers Have to Teach Elizabeth Warren,” Public Seminar, October 9, 2019. https://publicseminar.org/2019/10/the-moral-clarity-of-children-warren-climate-change/
“‘After Stonewall’ Exhibitions Remind Us That Queer History Shouldn’t Be Straightforward,” Public Seminar, June 29, 2019. https://publicseminar.org/essays/after-stonewall-exhibitions-remind-us-that-queer-history-shouldnt-be-straightforward/
“An Open Letter to my Best Friend About Abortion,” Public Seminar, June 19, 2019. https://publicseminar.org/essays/an-open-letter-to-my-best-friend-about-abortion/
“Wearing It on Our Sleeves: A Millennial’s Response to Christine Blasey Ford,” Public Seminar, October 4, 2018. https://publicseminar.org/2018/10/wearing-it-on-our-sleeves/
“David Wojnarowicz and Donna Gottschalk: A Meditation,” Journal of the History of Ideas Blog, September 28, 2018. https://jhiblog.org/2018/09/28/david-wojnarowicz-and-donna-gottschalk-a-meditation/?fbclid=IwAR2b_Eee34LYh0bWIesXeJJ7nlhFG9MTK43gl_1cdGZAF_bxoAHVLexeZlE
“Reading The Second Sex in the Age of #MeToo,” Public Seminar, March 12, 2018. https://publicseminar.org/2018/03/reading-the-second-sex-in-the-age-of-metoo/
“Toward a Feminist Definition of Feminism,” Public Seminar, January 16, 2018. https://publicseminar.org/2018/01/toward-a-feminist-definition-of-feminism/
“White European Women’s Rights: France’s Paradoxical Women’s Liberation,” Public Seminar, March 1, 2017. https://publicseminar.org/2017/03/white-european-womens-rights/
Chapbook (Editorial Review)
A Thirst for Salt, Gazing Grain Press, Winner of the 2017 Gazing Grain Press Prose Chapbook Contest, 2018.
Research Interests
Twentieth-Century American and European history; lesbian studies; history of sexuality and gender; feminist theory; transnational social movements
Awards And Honors
Research Grants
Global Research Initiative Fellowship, doctoral dissertation research, NYU Paris
Mainzer Fellowship, summer research grant, NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Alumnae Fellowship, dissertation fieldwork grant, Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Association
Partner University Fund Fellowship, summer research grant, NYU/Centre national de la recherche scientifique
CIRHUS Research Fellowship, summer research grant, NYU/ Centre national de la recherche scientifique
Fellowships and Invited Workshops
The Center for Women’s History Early Career Workshop Fellow, New York Historical Society
Elaine Brody Dissertation Research Fellowship, NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Margaret Brown Fellowship, NYU History Department
Mellon Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, NYU History Department
École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Summer School, "Rethinking the Concept of Revolution," Paris, France
Portfolio
hannahleffingwell.wordpress.com